Nutro Products facts for kids

The Nutro Company, Inc., a subsidiary company of Mars Incorporated, is the developer and manufacturer of the Max, Wholesome Essentials, Ultra, Wild Frontier, and Crave brands of dog and cat food, as well as Greenies dental treats. The company is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, US.

History

In 1933, John, Herman, and Albert Saleen owned and operated a fox farm where they raised foxes and developed their own fox food. They also developed wet dog food which they distributed through Kal Kan. John took over the business in 1947.

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, John Saleen renewed the Nutro Dog Food Company trademark in 1952 from the family of Herben Serois. Serois had started the company in 1931, and received approval to use the trademark Nutro on May 12, 1936.

Nutro trademark

Steve (Stephen) Saleen, the oldest of three children attended USC, graduating in 1971. He participated more and more in the family business, making the food, conducting deliveries, and sales. He was instrumental in developing formal marketing ideas and designing the layout of individual stores for maximum efficiency. Steve also came up with the modern Nutro logo (prior iteration to the current one used by Mars Inc.).

Over the years, Steve grew passionate about cars and racing. Between his passions for pet food and cars, pet food eventually waned, and he started his own car modification company, "Saleen Autosport" in 1983.

John Saleen eventually realized his children did not have the same calling to continue with Nutro so he sold his business to a friend, Ed Brown, for $300,000 in 1975.

In 1985, with the help of Dr. Sharon Machlik, they developed and introduced their Max line of foods, which made use of a chicken, lamb and rice formulation. Instead of traditional advertising, the company chose to produce large amounts of literature on the dietary needs of dogs and cats with comparative information on their ingredients versus the ingredients of other brands, and provide this to their retailers as a marketing tool.

The company was acquired by Mars, Incorporated in 2007 and the headquarters was moved to Tennessee.

Products

Nutro develops several different diet formulations, including canned, soft foods as well as bagged, dry kibbles. They have Max Cat and Natural Choice lines for cats, and the Nutro Max, Natural Choice, and Ultra lines for dogs. Each line has a selection of flavors and formulations for age range. The Ultra line was specifically created with the intent of creating a high-end holistic dog food.

Nutro dry foods are made through an extrusion process, and packaged with vitamin E as a natural preservative.

In 2006, it was announced that Nutro's Adult Lamb and Rice formula had become the #1 lamb and rice dog food in America. This earned the company a blue ribbon on their food.